John Graham Blackburn (2 September 1933 – 12 October 1994) was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the United Kingdom. He represented the constituency of Dudley West from 1979 until his death in 1994.

Early years

Blackburn was born in Eccles, the son of Charles and Grace Blackburn. He attended

Liverpool Collegiate School Liverpool Collegiate School was an all-boys grammar school, later a comprehensive school, in the Everton area of Liverpool. Foundations The Collegiate is a striking, Grade II listed building, with a facade of pink Woolton sandstone, designed ...

, and studied at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and Free University, Berlin, where he completed a PhD."Obituaries: John Blackburn", ''The Times'', 13 October 1994, p. 21. From 1953 to 1965 he served as a police officer, which (together with his hardline views on law and order) earned him the moniker "PC Plod" whilst in parliament. He married Marjorie Thompson in 1958, and they had two children. Rising to the position of detective sergeant, Blackburn left

Liverpool City Police Liverpool City Police was the police force operating in the city of Liverpool, England, established in 1836. In 1967, the force merged with Bootle Borough Police to create the Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary w ...

to join Solway Engineering Co. Ltd., where he became a sales director. He later served as a councillor in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, representing Merry Hill ward on the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

until 1980.

Political career

Blackburn was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 1979 general election with a majority of 1,139, gaining the seat from

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

. He subsequently held the seat at the 1983,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and 1992 elections. A right-winger, he supported the reintroduction of capital and corporal punishment, was a fervent

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

, and opposed abortion, the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

and the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

, which he considered to be a terrorist organisation. In 1982, he unsuccessfully argued in parliament for the retention of the

Round Oak Steelworks The Round Oak Steelworks was a steel production plant in Brierley Hill, West Midlands (formerly Staffordshire), England. It was founded in 1857 by Lord Ward, who later became, in 1860, The 1st Earl of Dudley, as an outlet for pig iron made in th ...

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, 2.5 miles south of Dudley and 2 miles north of Stourbridge. Part of the Black Country and in a heavily industrialised area, it has a pop ...

, which closed in December of that year with the loss of nearly 1,300 jobs, and which was later redeveloped as the Waterfront leisure and commercial complex.

Death

Shortly before midnight on 11 October 1994, Blackburn had a heart attack while leaving the House of Commons. He was taken to

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

, where he died early the following morning, at the age of 61. A

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held for his seat, which was won by Labour's

Ian Pearson Ian Phares Pearson (born 5 April 1959) is a British Labour Party politician who was a member of parliament (MP) from 1994 until 2010, representing Dudley West from 1994 until 1997, and then Dudley South from 1997 until his retirement from th ...

on the biggest swing since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, winning nearly 70% of the vote. Following boundary changes, Pearson then became Labour MP for the new Dudley South constituency after the 1997 election.

References

Sources

Times Guide to the House of Commons ''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'' is a political reference guide book published by Times Newspapers giving coverage of general elections in the United Kingdom. Following most general elections since 1880, the book has been published. Th ...

, 1992 and 1997 editions {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, John 1933 births 1994 deaths Alumni of the University of Liverpool British police officers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Wolverhampton People from Dudley Politicians from Wolverhampton UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997